


Welcome Back

by goodwineandcheese



Category: Monster
Genre: Alternate Ending, Gen, M/M, Tenma/Grimmer if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 05:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14513874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodwineandcheese/pseuds/goodwineandcheese
Summary: Tenma visits Grimmer's grave to reminisce, and bumps into someone unexpected.





	Welcome Back

**Author's Note:**

> Just finished rewatching the Prague arc and got a bunch of Grimmer feels. This fic is an alternate ending take, under the premise that Grimmer pulled a Nick Fury and is still alive somewhere. How he's still alive is total BS but I'm just here for emotions, not explaining away fatal wounds y'all 
> 
> I _might_ make this a multi-part fic, it'd just be fluffy "everyone who should have met Grimmer gets to meet him because he totally didn't die" and catching up with people etc.. Not sure though, it might just be nice on its own.

Victory felt hollow in the wake of Johan’s successful surgery, his recovery, and later his silent disappearance into the unknown. Tenma had not been forced to make that ultimate decision, in that place; it had been close, and he knew - absolutely, he knew - if given no other choice, he would have pulled the trigger. There was no way he could have allowed Wim to die that day. They had thwarted Johan, and his name was cleared. He could walk openly in the world again and do as he pleased, but the weight still hadn’t left.

Despite his newfound freedom, Tenma found that there was one place he could not go. It was the place that, arguably, he _should_. But even now he was running away.

Those boys in Prague didn’t know what happened. The last that they had seen of Wolfgang Grimmer, he had been overseeing them in another game of football, saying one final goodbye with promises to return someday, a promise that was extended to Tenma, a picnic they could share - perhaps in Prague, perhaps in Ruhenheim. If he imagined it now, he wondered if Wim would get along with those boys from Prague. Perhaps they could be friends. And Dieter, too. They all loved football...they would love to meet him.

But going to Prague now, even to introduce Dieter to those boys, meant facing the past, meant breaking the illusion that they could see the nice man once again. It meant looking Milosz in the eye and telling him that Grimmer wasn’t coming back.

Grimmer was the reason that boy was _alive_ , even now. If it weren’t for him, and for the true, genuine kindness he had shown that day, the compassion and sorrow as he hugged the child and wept as earnestly as any father, there was a good chance he wouldn’t have come back the way he did. When Tenma had watched, that boy had been so lively, playing with his friends, smiling… _happy_. And it was all because of Grimmer.

Grimmer, who was so sure that he felt nothing, but in that moment had more compassion in his heart than most for an orphaned stranger. Who would care about the loss of one child, the child of a prostitute? Wolfgang Grimmer had cared, deeply.

Tenma lifted his face into a gentle breeze, letting it caress his skin, soothe the dull ache that had situated itself in his heart. _If I had been more insistent that he stay._ Perhaps they could have left Prague together. Found another way to clear Suk’s name. Perhaps they could have taken him with them. _Perhaps it could have ended differently._

It was hard to visit his grave. But, it was also touching. He wasn’t the only one who visited. He saw flowers there from time to time, and on occasion crossed paths with the young detective. He was certain he spied Lunge there once, months ago, and they had shared a brief moment of eye contact, a respectful nod. Dieter had come with him once, had asked what sort of person Grimmer was. To answer that question brought both the warmth that the man had imbued on others and that empty, empty ache of knowing he was gone. 

The path was familiar enough that he could walk it without paying much mind to where he was going. It was such a beautiful day, warm with a slight breeze. His plan was to pay his respects - he had brought fresh flowers, clutching them gingerly in his hand - and then spend time with Reichwein, Nina and Dieter. Coming up on the familiar solemn setting he saw there was someone already there, trudging along in the opposite direction. Someone else here to pay their respects to their friends, family, beloved, he certainly couldn’t know. He kept his gaze down, not wanting to disturb them as he headed toward the familiar, well-kept headstone.

He stopped when he saw the shadow of the other man halt in front of him. He was in the way then. Tenma looked up, about to apologise and move aside.

“Ah...for me? Thank you, doctor...!”

Tenma took a swift step backward. This person was too close, and acting strang….

_Thank you, doctor…!_

That voice was….no.

But as he let his eyes focus, as he turned his attention toward the tall man and absorbed the information his eyes were perceiving….tall, gangly, messy dust-coloured hair, a large duffel bag, and….that _smile_...a smile that was exaggerated and dopey, one that could only ever belong to that one man.

Tenma found he was frozen, staring, eyes widening. The tall man was moving nearer, closing the distance, adjusting his bag over his shoulder as he smiled that squinty, crinkly smile. He stopped only a short distance away, close enough that he could reach out and touch him if he dared to break this illusion. 

“It’s been a long time, Doctor.”

Silence followed. Grimmer seemed to be waiting for a response, one that Tenma wasn’t sure he could give. When nothing came, Grimmer stepped forward, reaching out and gently easing the flowers from his hand, startling Tenma out of his dumb stupor. _Contact._ Real, it was absolutely real. A hand just touched his, briefly. A _real…_

“These are very lovely, Doctor, thank you!” The jovial man brought the flowers up to his face to smell them, smiling a little wider as he glanced back toward his grave. “So are those. I wonder who left them for me.”

“Those were left by Suk. He...”

...What was he saying?

“...How are you alive? Here….now? What _is_ this? Grimmer….”

The answer he received was a shrug and a smile. That same smile that said so little. “Wolfgang Grimmer was wanted for the murders of those men in Prague. He would have had a very difficult time living out the rest of his life.” He stepped toward the grave, crouching beside it. “Now, he’s resting comfortably here...isn’t that right, Doctor? And now...Neumeyer can go about his life as he pleases. It was the easiest way.”

“You’re saying that you faked your death.”

“Indeed, I am!”

Tenma remembered that tay all too clearly, _far_ too clearly. He saw it still, sometimes, on bad nights. That day….that terrible day. He remembered entering the hotel...seeing the way Wim cried, clinging onto Grimmer for dear life. Bonaparta had told him what happened, that Grimmer gave his life in an effort to protect them. Had Tenma have been earlier...perhaps he could have saved him, but….

“Bonaparta. He helped you fake your death, didn’t he.”

The smile faltered, fell away to reveal a hollow nothingness that Tenma had never seen on Grimmer before. Mentioning Bonaparta….that man….but just as quickly, it had returned, warm as before. How long had it taken him, to master such a smile?

“I was definitely badly off. I wasn’t sure if I’d make it or not. But, strangely enough, it was Steiner who saved me, in the very end. He came through for me in a different sort of way. But I think....he's gone, now. I think that Steiner is...no longer part of me.”

"How can you tell?"

Grimmer seemed to think about that for a while, looking skyward. 

"I don't know. But it feels...it _feels_ different." There was another pause, another silence. “He died that day instead. Bonaparta.”

Tenma gave a small nod, noting the tired expression on Grimmer’s face. “I told him not to go. That really was too bad.”

Keeping Bonaparta from dying had been everything that Grimmer stood for then. He’d been protecting that man so that he could tell the world what he did, but in the end it had been futile. Grimmer showed no real emotional response to that, but Tenma still felt the pangs of sympathy tug at his chest. He couldn’t imagine what that must be like.

“I’m sorry.”

The smile widened, and Grimmer shook his head.

“That’s not anything I can change, is it? Better not to focus on the past, but instead move forward. But Doctor...actually, I’m surprised it’s taken this long for us to cross paths. I thought I would have seen you already.”

Tenma paused. Why would that be? Did….

His eyes widened. “....You went to Prague...to visit those boys again, didn’t you?”

“I did. They asked me where you were! I couldn’t give them an answer...so I thought I would try coming to find you. And here you are!”

If he had gone….then he would have known sooner. But the prospect had been so daunting.

“...I couldn’t bring myself to face them. To face Milosz. I would have had to tell him that you…” He looked up at Grimmer, then chuckled. “...I suppose I wouldn’t have. But I didn’t know that, not at the time. I didn’t want them to know.”

Did Suk know? Probably not….he’d been working in Germany for the last several months, so he probably wouldn’t have known. He would be overjoyed to see Grimmer alive…

Alive.

With just that word, the hollow emptiness vanished from Tenma. 

_Alive._

“Oh, that reminds me….we were going to enjoy a nice picnic together, weren’t we…? You said you’d hold me to that.”

“I did.”

“Well….then….would you like to…?”

“Grimmer, I--”

“Neumeyer, now. I can’t very well be Grimmer, he’s buried right here!”

“....I’m glad you’re back.”

There was another pause, neither man speaking, both looking down at the lovely flowers Suk had left. Finally, Grimmer looked up with that softer smile, nodding. “I’m glad to be back, Doctor.”


End file.
